The mobilization will take place on September 6 and seeks to uphold the legacy of President Salvador Allende, commemorate the 53rd anniversary of the coup d’état and denounce setbacks in the area of human rights.
The National Coordinating Committee of Human Rights and Social Organizations and the Human Rights for a Dignified Life Roundtable called for a memorial procession for memory, human rights and against pardons, which will take place next September 6, at 10:00 a.m., starting from Los Héroes Metro station and ending at the General Cemetery, in Santiago, with a political-cultural event.
The day will be held under the slogans “No to Pardons” and “Human Rights, Not One Step Back”. Likewise, the legacy of President Salvador Allende will be upheld and tribute will be paid to the victims of the 1973 civic-military coup and the subsequent systematic human rights violations.
The organizations calling for the event have expressed concern over possible pardons or benefits for those convicted of serious human rights violations, both those linked to the dictatorship and those related to events that occurred during the social uprising, and warn of what they consider a scenario of setbacks in terms of truth, justice, reparation, memory and guarantees of non-repetition.
Among the main concerns is also the dismantling or weakening of the “National Plan for Search, Truth and Justice”, an initiative created under the government of former President Gabriel Boric, which seeks to advance clarification of the whereabouts of people detained and disappeared during the dictatorship.
For human rights organizations, memory is not merely a look toward the past, but also a responsibility toward the present and the future. In this regard, the call seeks to express categorical rejection of any form of impunity and reaffirm that human rights violations cannot once again be subordinated to political interests and changes of government.
“A demonstration of love and recognition”
The president of the Association of Relatives of Political Executed Persons (AFEP) and 2026 National Human Rights Award recipient, Alicia Lira, called on citizens to participate in the mobilization and highlighted the historical and also cultural nature of the event.
“On the 6th we will commemorate culturally, mystically, upholding, not only what the Popular Unity was, the memory of our relatives, what we still have left to find, our detained disappeared and executed without the return of their bodies”, said the National Human Rights Award recipient..
She also expressed that the march also represents a tribute to President Salvador Allende and to those who participated in the Popular Unity process alongside workers, women and professionals.
“It has to do with this march, that there is a demonstration of love, of recognition, with the pride we feel for our president Salvador Allende”, she stated.
In the same vein, musician Jorge Coulon, of the group Inti Illimani, called for participation in the mobilization at a time he considers especially relevant for the defense of human rights.
“It is very important to uphold that Chile respects and demands respect for human rights and the memory of the victims of human rights violations”, said the artist.